[Introduction]

Saying something three times is as bland as water; the more a manager speaks, the less employees care. It's best to hit the point and stop.

Effective Communication: Respect is Most Important

Xiao Zhi hopes to drink Yakult every night, but Lao Zhi thinks it's not healthy to drink it every day. To achieve the goal of "not letting Xiao Zhi eat snacks every day," through communication, the father and son reached an agreement: if Xiao Zhi gets a little red flower at kindergarten for a whole week, Lao Zhi will buy a bottle of Yakult as a reward when picking him up on Friday.

There are three very important factors here: the goal, an executable consensus, and conveying thoughts and emotions. Among them, conveying thoughts and emotions is the communication process. An effective communication process should have the following steps and methods.

Among these, listening with a respectful attitude is very important but also the most easily overlooked step. Some managers are quite assertive and like to impose their own opinions on employees. They lack the patience to listen to and accept subordinates' views and suggestions, nor do they have the patience to listen to subordinates' "complaints," considering them as excuses.

Many people have this problem: they don't give others the chance to finish speaking, thinking they already fully understand the other's point, and rudely interrupt to express their own opinions. As a result, communication efficiency is poor, and sometimes they even part on bad terms.

Effective Communication Requires Smooth Information Flow

1. Bottom-Up

One day, Lao Zhi received a customer complaint that one of their projects had serious problems: progress was lagging, quality was substandard, and the customer was angry, with serious consequences. But before this, the project manager's reports to Lao Zhi all showed everything was going smoothly.

So Lao Zhi found the project manager for detailed communication. Upon questioning, he learned that the customer had already shown dissatisfaction some time ago.

It is very common for subordinates to filter information when reporting to superiors, as in the example above. The main reason is the fear of criticism, so they only report good news and not bad news.

However, this leads the superior to think everything is normal. When problems truly surface, they are already serious and more difficult to handle.

2. Top-Down

Managers also filter information when communicating downward, meaning they do not pass on information from the company or higher-ups faithfully but withhold part of it.

Some managers worry about their limited leadership skills and fear insufficient authority and influence over subordinates. They deliberately withhold information that should be conveyed, artificially creating the impression of "I know more than you do" to demonstrate authority and mystery. But in reality, this practice does more harm than good.

On one hand, if managers filter out information that employees should know, it leads to information asymmetry, preventing employees from doing things correctly and even affecting the final outcome of doing the right things.

On the other hand, in the long run, it undermines the manager's authority. Once subordinates discover that the manager intentionally withholds information, they will doubt the manager's professional integrity. A superior doubted by subordinates will inevitably see their managerial authority greatly diminished.

Of course, if certain information is explicitly told by higher-ups not to be passed down, or if it needs to be kept confidential after weighing, then it should not be conveyed to subordinates.

To Encourage, First Find the Right Carrot

There was a young man in Lao Zhi's department who came from a wealthy family, didn't work hard, and was often late and left early, muddling through. Lao Zhi talked to him several times but with no effect, and was very troubled.

Saying something three times is as bland as water; the more a manager speaks, the less employees care. It's best to hit the point and stop.

For example, the common phenomenon in the workplace mentioned above: this kind of young person, pampered since childhood, with good family conditions and no survival pressure, telling them "if you don't work hard, you won't make money" obviously has no effect because they don't care about that.

But if you can care more about them, understand what they truly value and pursue, such as personal independence and self-realization, and stimulate their work enthusiasm from these aspects, it will be more effective. When change begins, give more praise and encouragement.

Say Different Things to Different People

Different groups require different basic principles and essentials in communication:

(Source: Borrowing Wisdom Media)

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